Bang Noir

First Review of My Novel Nine to Dine on Amazon

2013-05-12T06:16:00.001-07:00

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 5.0 out of 5 stars: wow and double wow, May 11, 2013
By
pokey - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nine to Dine (Kindle Edition)this book left me almost breathless as i sped through each page trying to discover "who-done-it " ??? the pace is fast and the author, while writing a story line that has been somewhat premised before, never lets you down with its twists and turns. just when you think you have it figured out ................surprise. you don't.
i rarely do reviews but just had to share with you [s] a great story well worth your time.

Nine to Dine by William Butler on Amazon Kindle for $0.99

2013-04-24T13:05:00.001-07:00

Amazon Kindle

In the tradition of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, comes...Nine to Dine!

Eight people are invited to a relaxing weekend. Ten people with secrets they want to keep hidden. A deadly game that only one person can win.

Ripley Luder is throwing a weekend getaway for eight close friends. He has promised relaxation, good food and killer entertainment. When Ripley tells his guests that one of them will murder him, everything changes.

Each guest is given an envelope with another guest's secret and the location of forty million dollars, that is hidden somewhere in the house.

Only when they wake the next day and find their host dead, they start suspect each other of his murder!

And eventually one by one they will fall...

GET YOUR COPY TODAY!!

AMAZON KINDLE

Now I Lay Me Down To Reap

2012-09-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Now I Lay Me Down To Reap – the Newest Anthology from Sirens Call Publications

The eighth commandment; thou shalt not steal. But everyone covets something that isn't theirs...

Wander down the darker paths of the minds of twelve brilliantly talented authors as they conjure stories of retribution, deceit and betrayal.

Would you chance your family’s fate to the gods in return for a favor? Are the finer things in life worth having once you know the cost someone else had to pay for you to indulge in them? Would you give up your most addictive passion so that others might reap the benefits, regardless of the reward? Or perhaps, the chance at a fresh start and a new life appeals to you? Are you prepared to reap what you have sown?

Within this collection, you’ll find tales all too believable and beyond your oddest imaginings. But there is one thing you will not find… In this anthology, there are no happy endings.

Featuring the literary talents of Ryan C. Anderson, Thomas James Brown, Aspen deLainey, John H. Dromey, Amber Keller, Christian A. Larsen, Jeffery X Martin, Lori Michelle, Sergio Palumbo, J. Marie Ravenshaw, Bill Read, and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

***

Now I Lay Me Down To Reap is available at:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon IT

Amazon DE

Amazon FR

Amazon ES

Amazon Print

CreateSpace

Smashwords

Barnes & Noble

Excerpts:

Fugue State – Christian A. Larsen

“It was Tuesday, August 5th, and now that he knew it, he didn’t know if that information helped him or not. His eyes drifted downward over the text of the top story; something about how one of the candidates was promising tax breaks to gay couples. Was he for that or against it? Was he a Republican? A Democrat? A Libertarian? Constitution? Green? These were the kinds of issues that made people run to their ideological bunkers. He had an inkling that he might have come down hard one way or the other before… well, before he came to in the alley, an alien in his own skin.

His eyes refocused on the glass of the newspaper box, and he saw his own reflection. There was nothing familiar in the face staring back at him, and he was a little distressed to find that he was thinning and graying up top, either prematurely (which he hoped) or right on time for a man in his mid-40s. Either way, he didn’t really feel old, at least until he tried to stand up and his knees crackled like a bowl of Rice Krispies. Did he have bad knees? Some injury from his past (assuming he had a past)…”

Gable’s Leatherworks – J. Marie Ravenshaw

“A shrill scream rang out across the pasture.

Abigail snapped her head up upon hearing the jarring sound. A brisk evening breeze filtered into the room, sending a chill up her spine. She glanced up at the fluttering curtains, pushed out her chair, and stood. As she walked over to the open window, she rubbed her arms trying to stave off the goose bumps.

With her palms resting on the window jambs, she gazed out over the pasture. There was nothing out there that she could see, but she had an unnerving feeling that she was being watched. She knitted her brow and allowed her eyes to scan the field one last time before closing the window and drawing the curtain. Like every other night, the scream had come from the direction of Mrs. Gable’s barn…”

Me and the Monster – Ryan C. Anderson

“There was something sinister about Phil Winikoff, and even though his skin was sun-kissed and he smelled of expensive, French cologne, I could see the darkness that festered deep below.

“Dr. Skidmore, your two o’clock.” My receptionist protracted his neck around the door.

“Send him in,” I said.

Phil passed through the threshold of my office like a wounded creature, being mindful of his steps and careful of his surroundings, fearful of some far off thing beyond the boundaries of my spackled walls. He reached for my hand and thanked me for seeing him on such short notice. “It’s really hard to find good people these days,” he said in shallow utter. His fingers wrapped around mine like tentacles, and I could feel the sweat of his palms mash together with mine. His eyes were beady bloodshot balls of sleepless jelly. We stood there, our hands entangled in a strange, sweaty chimera, until finally he released and I was able to skulk back to the safety of my imported, Carpathian Elm desk…”

Sweet Addiction – Aspen deLainey

“Aeryn peered cautiously around the corner of the schoolyard. Although dusk had fallen, that didn’t necessarily mean they’d be gone. He just had to ensure guardians weren’t nearby.

Standing silently, he considered prancing towards the swings. Two, he counted. Two of the precious things. Just waiting for him!

He shook his mane and tail free of any tangles. He rubbed his hooves on a convenient bush. He licked his lips. He so wanted to look enticing.

A snarl came from directly behind him.

Aeryn didn’t even chance a look. Better safe than sorry. He galloped off, down some alleys, hoping he’d evaded pursuit. Damn he was getting hungrier and hungrier. Finally, he stopped in a shadowy alley, panting…”

Good Taste – Adrian Tchaikovsky

“The instructions said not to eat for 24 hours beforehand, but, seriously? There are articles in the Geneva Convention about that sort of thing. I had a light breakfast; that was all. The appointment was 11.30am and I read somewhere that bacon gets digested faster than most foods anyway. Or maybe I dreamt that.

And if I had a Twix on the tube, well, I have blood sugar issues. A man of certain dimensions needs a bit of an energy boost when he’s out and about. I can’t think that I was setting back medical science a hundred years or anything, not just a few mouthfuls of chocolate…”

The Game – Amber Keller

Stephanie sang the song on the radio like an angel. Her ice blue eyes closed, her head tilted back, the sun glowing off of her cheeks and shoulders, she had her knees tucked up into her chest. Her golden hair spilled down her shoulders in soft waves.

David reached into his pocket and rubbed the small, velvet box. This was the moment he had been anticipating for weeks. He would ask her when they got to the lake.

The winding road was starting to become covered lightly by leaves. With fall almost here, the late afternoon sun warmed the breeze that swirled through the trees, bringing the smells of summer’s last moments. A golden glow cast across the hood of his car as he crested a small hill, reflecting into his vision and temporarily blinding him.

David’s eyes filled with tears and he rubbed at them vigorously to try and clear his vision. White spots danced before his eyes, and he let off the gas, not able to see the road.

Stephanie’s piercing scream suddenly filled the car.

“DAVID! LOOK OUT!”

You Should Have – Lori Michelle

“Henry Jones liked order. His clothes had to hang in his closet a certain way. His coffee had to be made just right. Anything that disrupted his schedule was immediately loathed. This OCD-esque perfection drove everyone crazy and it wasn’t surprising that Henry lived alone. So when he found out that his secretary had to take leave for personal reasons, he wandered through the bank in a haze.

That’s when she walked into his life.

He saw her across the room and tried not to stare. She had an air about her that he hadn’t seen in a woman in a long time. She looked over at him and smiled; he was taken aback by how confident she was. He smiled back and walked over to her.

“Can I help you miss...”

A False Odor of Sanctity – John H. Dromey

“Financial arrangements had been made in advance, so there was no need for conversation. By the flickering light of a lantern, the two men worked in a grim silence, broken only by the susurrus of twin shovels slicing through the packed earth and an occasional grunt of exertion as the loosened clods were tossed high in the air to land outside the pit.

Farther up in the sky, a gibbous moon played hide and seek with slow-moving clouds. Although more than half of the lunar orb he called home was open intermittently to earthly view on this particular evening, the Man in the Moon could bear witness with only one eye. No one else was watching.

When a new sound emerged from the surrounding shadowy darkness—a faint metallic clinking of chains—the diggers were too absorbed in their work to notice…”

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing! – Jeffery X Martin

“One time, when you were little, we were in the car. All of us. You, me and your mommy. Your mommy was messing around with the radio in the car, trying to find some music to listen to. She landed on this one station, far right on the dial, and there was an old preacher, rattling on about the End of Days. I made a face. Your mother giggled a little and reached down to change the station.

You were in back, in your car seat, and you said, “Who’s that man talking?”

Your mommy said, “Just some guy telling stories.”

You laughed and clapped your hands. “He’s funny! He talks funny,” you said. “He says funny things!”

And the guy did have that cadence going on, that deep Southern rhythm, adding extra syllables onto his words. “Jesus-ah! He is-ah coming back-ah! He is coming-ah! To retrieve his people-ah! To take his people-ah! Into the sky-ah! Up to his holy kingdom-ah! The holy kingdom of heaven-ah!”

Beasts of Burden – Thomas James Brown

“Four months ago we could barely afford to eat and now this... By the Seven Courts of the Seven Sins, the land itself would not satisfy you, Frederick!”

For three generations, Hanker Farm had endured in the Dorsetshire region. When just a boy, Coll had watched studiously from the fields as his father managed the land. The lessons in those days were many, and taught the merits of diligence, hard work and glistening sweat, in favour of parchment or prayers.

“As you reap, so shall you sow,” his father used to say, “sow bad seeds and happen you’ll have a bad harvest.” Even in those early days, he had realized his father was imparting more than agricultural wisdom; he was a moral man with just beliefs, which did not indulge slovenliness or ill manners…”

The Fairies in the Wood – Bill Read

“Even from a distance, Edward Carter had no problem spotting her. Every other arriving passenger was garbed in suits, anoraks or tee-shirts - but not his daughter. Even though he hadn’t seen her for six months, there was no mistaking the figure in the dress standing next to an out of date poster advertising a talk at the village library on local superstitions. She was even wearing a straw hat – she looked like a character out of a Pollyanna book.

“Sorry I wasn’t here to meet you off the train,” he apologised giving her a hug. “I took the wrong turning on the way to the station – I don’t know the roads around here yet.”

“That’s all right dad,” replied Maribel pecking him on the cheek. “The train got in at 10.30 and I’ve hardly been waiting at all. A few seconds is hardly a matter of life and death…”

The Eater – Sergio Palumbo

“Only a few people really know the true story of Jenő De Carignano. In fact, he was a peculiar nobleman living in an ancient and windy European seaport. He was born in a northern Italian town in 1800, long ago, but nowadays he doesn’t think much about that city. It has been a very long time since the man was back there and, with the passing of the years, he has almost forgotten its name.

But, the name of the place wasn’t important anyway.

Dark haired, with a bristly, curly beard, and two wild eyes on a face glowing with health, Jenő was 32 years old when he got married for the first time. The birth of his son, Flavio, soon followed. The wedding was expensive and ostentatious, but as he wasn’t from one of the most famous noble families in town, it was nothing like the wonderful marriages of the richest families in that community. Anyway, the man was very relieved about that, as he was mainly an introvert, and very mean in general. He had a lot of reasons to behave that way: Jenő was an alchemist and had discovered something very important while busy with his other studies, something he didn’t want to share with anyone else…”

I Want My...I Want My MDNA--Bang Vs Madonna

2012-04-25T10:40:00.005-07:00

During my career as a novelist I have known wonders! I became an International Bestseller within a few weeks of my first novel hitting the internet. While my career as a novelist flourished I had the opportunity to meet many...many different famous superstars. One in particular is the one and only Madonna! Yes, Ms. MDNA herself! Come join me as I sit down with Madonna and do her very first Blog interview. And I share intimate photos of us hanging out by the water cooler we call FAME.

W: Let me tell you that I wanted to thank you so much, Madonna, for meeting me today to allow me to interview you for Bang Noir.

M: You're very welcome...it's a pleasure.
W: I'm just so excited to see you again. I think everyone here is just as excited as I am...maybe more.
M: I hope so...Hello everyone (waves and laughs)
W: So let's get started shall we. Please tell everyone about the first time you met me?
M: (pauses) You mean when you first met me...right?
(silence)
W: No, when you first met me. I know when I first met you.
M: And when was that?
W: It was on George Clooney's Yatch.
M: That's right. You were drunk and hitting on George. (laughs) You know he wasn't that into you right?
W: I think he was.
M: (shakes her head and looks embarrassed) I don't think so. I actually remember him trying to have you removed from the Yatch.
W: Ok, so moving on. (I clear my throat) So through out your whole career you seemed to have been influenced by one thing...
M: And what is that?
W: Me.
M: (she laughs) That's just not true. I mean I am influenced by all kinds of things. But not by you. I actually think that I influenced you.

W: I can't believe you just said that.
M: (cocks eyebrow) Well it's true. You have to face the truth sometimes...(smiles) in your career (adjusts herself in the chair)
W: I do think you were influenced by me. I mean look at some of your work. Bad Girl was about me.
M: That's not true.
W: It is. It was about me and my party life in the nineties. You were there watching me act out because of my daddy issues. I like how you changed it to Bad Girl instead of Bad Boy.
M: (shakes her head) It really wasn't about you...I promise.
W: So let's talk about other references you have of me in your music...
M: Wait... is this what the interview is all about?
W: What do you mean?
M: I mean are we just going to talk about you and how you have taken my ideas and twisted them into referencing you. None of it is true.
W: (I laugh)
M: You know during my interview in the UK I mention that there are people out there who use my name to make them famous and you know who I was talking about?
W: GaGa?
M: Well...(shakes head yes)but mostly you. If anyone is referencing anyone else it would be you about me.
W: But Madonna, I wouldn't do that. I love you.
M: Well...it doesn't show. I didn't come here today to talk about you. I never used you in any of my work.

W: That's just not true.
M: When did I do that?
W: You reference both my book Bang and its sequel Smoking Gun on your new album MDNA.
M: (silent)
W: Yes. Gang Bang is all about my Novel Bang and in Girl Gone Wild you reference its sequel Smoking Gun. So you see...I'm not just making this up.
M: (laughs) You got me. I guess I can't argue with that. (smiles)
W: I'm sorry. I do love you and I hope you are not mad at me.
M: Of course not. I love you as well.
W: Well I guess that's all I have for you today. I'm sure we can do this again soon.
M: Not a chance in hell...(gets up and walks off)
W: Call me babe. Huggies and kisses.

Well that was all I had right now of the interview with Madonna. It was an amazing time. I mean after all I hadn't seen her in years. I am sure I will get another sit down with The Queen of Pop soon. Of course you guys will be the first to know.

***If you haven't guess this whole interview has been a fabrication of my imagination. I have never met Madonna in my life time--though I will be going to her concert. :D I will add that if this was a true interview then I would have passed out somewhere between meeting her and talking. As for the photos...The one of me with my arm around Madonna I took Guy Richies's head off and placed mine. The other photo are of me and a look-alike posing for the camera.
Sorry this pisses you off it is supposed to be fun. XO I truly love you Madonna!!

Go and get your copy of Madonna's new album MDNA
And while your on Amazon feel free to get any of my novels: BANG, The House of Balestrom, Time of The Season

Just The Facts...Ma'am

2012-04-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

I came to realize when I started this journey as a writer that it comes with hard work. I actually don't mind the work. It's exciting and full of surprises. It is ever changing and I like that. I'm definitely not bored...:) But I am writing this post most because I am working on the edits to Book Two in the BANG Trilogy. I have to admit, this book is unique.

The Title: SMOKING GUN, drums up a lot in a person's mind. What could happen in this book? After all, a lot of people died in the first one. I am asked why I did that in my books--why kill off a large group of main characters.
The Answer: Because the story could not progress if certain characters remained alive. And when you think about it they were only supporting characters in the big picture.
SMOKING GUN is about perception. You had a perception of the first book, BANG, when it was released. You probably saw it as cut and dry. Sex and violence. Maybe senseless sex and violence. But the fact remains that there are still answers needed and yet a bigger story to be told.
When I sat down to write BANG, I could only think about what I was going to say. What did I want to tell? The story mattered and the plot was thick with twists and turns. I decided to narrow the story into a relationship--I know that sounds strange, but I wanted you to think that it was just your average f'ed up relationship...with f'ed up characters who are all out to get one another, when in reality that was only a small part of what was really going on.
SMOKING GUN, comes in with the reveal. The term Smoking Gun is basically telling you here is the truth. Here are the facts and you have to decide what is right and what is wrong, but hold on...I'm not going to make it too easy for you. There is still a lot happening in the story, because there is something looming around in the background and it's waiting to escape...
SMOKING GUN is a straight-up thriller. Still has f'ed up characters and even more f'ed up situations. I'm behind in my edits and I could kick myself for it. But I promise once it is released you will not be disappointed. Or you will and all I can say to that is that I tried. Which means I will still be writing the next book in the series and I will be talking about all three books.

By the way to all my readers thank you so much for your support. I know my books aren't for everyone, but that is why I write two types of books. One set of the hardboiled reader and the other for the softcore readers. I know it is strange to find a writer who writes from both sides of the brain, but I want to capture you all and share with you my talents.

You can find my books on Amazon: Bang (Book 1)

Chaser -- Indiegogo

2012-04-16T15:02:00.001-07:00

Chaser -- Indiegogo:

Shame = Death

Chaser is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Chaser must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

The Story

Disconnected from his family, culture, and community, Zachary Gold—a young, promising high school teacher and the son of conservative immigrants—seeks solace in the gay bareback community.

The Impact

As HIV shifts from a life-threatening disease to a manageable "condition," the number of gay men practicing unsafe sex, both out of recklessness and self-injury, continues to grow. We need your help to raise awareness about the alarming complacency surrounding the issue of HIV/AIDS today. As filmmakers, we're not interested in making a judgment about anyone's behavior. Instead, our goal is to start a dialogue about the increasing number of people practicing unsafe sex and ask one simple question: Why?

About the Creators

Sal Bardo's short film Requited made its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2011 and has screened at festivals across the country, including Reel Affirmations: Washington D.C.'s International LGBT Film Festival, where Sal won the Audience Award for Best First Time Filmmaker. Requited will be released on DVD later this year. His most recent film, Sam, about gender identity and bullying, is currently making the festival rounds. www.salbardo.com

Hailed as "An Actor to Watch!" by Backstage, Max Rhyser has acted opposite Q-Tip in Nelson George's My Funny Valentine (currently in development) and in One Life to Live, Homeland, A Four Letter Word, Requited, and the BBC series My Hero. His production work includes the successful series In Between Men. Max is a proud member of SAG and AEA, sits on the creative teams of two theater companies, and runs a holistic healing practice in New York. He is dedicated to affecting change through storytelling. www.maxrhyser.com

What We Need & What You Get

Your donation will make it possible for us to start this conversation. The money raised will go directly toward making sure the film is made in the most professional and effective way possible. With your help, we'll be able to assemble a first-rate team and pay for all the costs of the following:

casting
crew
equipment
wardrobe
food
transportation
post-production
and much more!

In addition to helping to fund the film, you'll also receive the perks listed on the right-hand side of this page.

How to Donate

It's simple! Click on the "Contribute Now" button above and choose the amount you'd like to give. You can pay via credit card, debit card, or personal check. Either way, your contribution is safe and secure! All contributions are tax deductible thanks to our partnership with Fractured Atlas.

NOTE: Even if we do not meet our goal, IndieGogo allows us to keep 100% of the funds you donate (minus the standard fee), which will be combined with funds we're actively raising offline. Rest assured that this film will be made and you will be updated every step of the way! For more information, please visit our official Facebook page!

Help Spread the Word!

Even if you can't afford to donate, you can contribute by emailing this page to your friends and sharing it on your Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites. Help us tell this important story!

Anthony Pedone Interview - MUDKISS FANZINE

2012-04-10T20:09:00.001-07:00

anthonypedoneinterview - MUDKISS FANZINE:

A great interview for Director Anthony Pedone!! Check it out...

Steve Balderson's The Casserole Club--A Review By William Butler

2012-03-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Synopsis:

Steve Balderson’s new film, “The Casserole Club” focuses on a group of mod 1960’s era suburban housewives. Close-knit and neighborly, they are all bent on one-upping each other, trying to prove that each is “the hostess with the mostess.” They begin a recipe club, and hold dinner parties, testing out their new casseroles. But when the gatherings become increasingly focused on boozy flirtation, and more than recipes start getting swapped, the story moves swiftly from stylized and campy to a drama about irresponsibility, selfishness, and damaged people.

The Casserole Club--IMDB Page

The Trailer:

The Review:

The Casserole Club by Steve Balderson is one dish you can't stop eating. You will savor each bite as if it were your last. What leads from a quaint get together of friends and neighbors, turns into an exploration of dark inner feelings and desires. Steve Balderson brings you into the lives of five couples: Sugar (Susan Traylor) and Conrad (Kevin Richardson), Kitty (Starina Johnson) and Sterling (Garrett Swann), Jerome (Daniela Sea) and Leslie (Mark Booker), Marybelle (Jennifer Grace) and Max (Michael Maize), and finally Florene (Pleasant Gehman) and Burt (Hunter Bodine).

Sugar (Traylor) suggests that the women make a casserole dish and bring it to a little get together and let their husbands judge who made the best dish. The winner gets a T-shirt that says "Queen Casserole". This is only the beginning of what lies beneath the happy exterior of these home makers. The Casserole Club starts off as a comedy but quickly changes directions into a drama from this point on.

After the first party turns into a wife swap, the women feel awkward and the men seem to move on. It was interesting to see how the two sexes deal with the situation of that night. You also start to discover the issues lying underneath each character. Everything from cutting, self-loathing and sadness, homosexuality to questioning ones own desires in love and marriage. The way people tend to deceive themselves to make their lives better.

Set to the backdrop of the 1969 moon landing, as well as some major moments in history, which I might add are placed well within the film to set the mood of the scenes. The music goes very well with the current mood of the scenes as well. Another theme in the movie are the colors. I have to say that Steve Balderson knows how to weave visuals and sound together like a master chef. His direction is on point with what he is trying to portray to the audience. The actors bring each character to life and make you feel sympathy for them. You become connected with the characters and their issues. You can actually say to yourself that you know someone like this.

Overall, The Casserole Club is an excellent film that serves up a tasty dish that will tantalize ones taste buds. I highly recommend this movie to join anyone's DVD library. It's one movie you can watch over and over again, only to discover something you missed the first time around.

Check out The Casserole Club on it's official page at Dikenga.com: The Casserole Club

Bang vs Julianne Snow

2012-03-20T05:20:00.000-07:00

Please welcome Julianne Snow to Bang Noir! I am very grateful that she has come here to share with us her first novel DAYS WITH THE UNDEAD. Go check her out!! and buy her book, it's great!!

About the Author - Julianne Snow

It was while watching Romero's Night of the Living Dead at the tender age of 6 that solidified Julianne’s respect of the Undead. Since that day, she has been preparing herself for the (inevitable) Zombie Apocalypse. While classically trained in all of the ways to defend herself, she took up writing in order to process the desire she now covets; to bestow a second and final death upon the Undead.

As the only girl growing up in a family with four children in the Canadian countryside, Julianne needed some form of escape. Her choice was the imaginations of others which only fostered the vibrancy of her own. The horror and forensic/crime thriller genres top her list of favourites, but she can never turn down a good science fiction, fantasy or mystery read.

Julianne appears in the anthology Women of the Living Dead with a story entitled The Living Dead at Penderghast Manor. Look for her short stories in future anthologies. Days with the Undead: Book One is her first full-length book, the basis of which can be found in her popular web serial of the same name.

Days with the Undead: Book One Synopsis:

It’s a journal of survival.

Five people set out to escape the Undead who have risen too close to home. Join the emotional and physical struggle as they began on the third day after the awakening of Brooks VanReit, as they are recorded from the point of view of Julie, a former pathologist and part-time survivalist.

Each entry is geared toward helping those who want to help themselves and maybe give a few that don’t a swift kick in the ass. Join our group of survivors on their journey through these Days with the Undead.

The Post

Bang Noir has been one of my go-to blogs for quite some time so imagine my delight in finding out that I would be guesting with the handsome and charming William Butler. William is the author of a great many books, all of which are great – but those of you that follow his blog already know that. Taking into account the fact that I have been influenced by many of the Indie authors that I now call friends, I took a look into my past and remembered…

My Earliest Literary Horror Influences

I have been a fan of horror since the first moment that I can remember. Books, films - you name it and I will find a way to read it or watch it. I love the momentary feeling that being frightened creates within my body. Ruminating on this topic, I can’t help but remember back to those first books that helped to cement my love of the genre.

The first horror story that I ever read was The Mist by Stephen King. I was around eight years old at the time and I remember being scared by that ominous fog that rolled in. Sometime in the next few days, a layer of light fog rolled over the landscape outside of my window and I can remember the feeling of dread that overcame me. Luckily, it passed without incident.

After reading The Mist, I recall asking my elementary school librarian, Mr. Connor, at the age of ten if there was anything that he could recommend for me. I had spent the previous few years reading my brother’s Stephen King novels and my mother’s Robin Cook books so I was looking for something new. My elementary school only went as high as grade six at the time, so it’s understandable that there were limited offerings from Scholastic available.

Some might look at what followed as an interesting reaction to a ten year old’s request to stock horror stories, but Mr. Connor ordered one per month for the school library. Whether it was his desire to foster my love of reading or a twisted way to suss out my limitations for horror, none of it really mattered. I was going to get access to new and exciting reads.

The first book that came in was Slumber Party by Christopher Pike. Admittedly it was Young Adult Horror and I was used to reading the full-fledged freak outs, but I devoured it! I took it home on a Friday and by the time I brought it back the following Monday, I had read it three times. That was the only drawback to being a fast reader – I’d have nothing else to read until the next Scholastic order came in…

After devouring Slumber Party, Mr. Connor tried to push Roald Dahl’s The Witches at me and while it was a good book, it was something I had already read. Knowing that I was unlikely to get any new or gratifying horror reads from my school library, I talked my mother into taking me to my local public library for some time among the stacks.

Now of course I had been there before and mainly it was to get additional works by King and Cook but admittedly, there were things in these books that had gone over my head the first time I had read them. Reading them again in adulthood has straightened quite a few of those things out. Discovering an author who wrote horror geared a little more toward my current age was like Christmas! As I scoured the racks for more by Christopher Pike, I found titles like Chain Letter, Gimme a Kiss and The Party. It was only a few titles at the time, but I had certainly found something new that I could really get into.

Quite by chance, I happened to glance up at the end of the bookshelves as I was preparing to leave with my new finds and discovered that the librarians had made finding new authors a little easier. Listed on pages of letter-sized paper were recommendations for other authors based on who you already enjoyed. That list held a few names but those names I would become very familiar with: Dean Koontz, Caroline B. Cooney and Richie Tankersley Cusick. I would have to say that Pike and Koontz along with King and Cook kept me quite busy. I was a voracious reader and would pretty much read anything that struck my fancy. Along with horror, I was reading a lot of science fiction mainly from Ray Bradbury, James Herbert and Jack Finney. It was a time of literary exploration and I enjoyed each and every minute of it.

If you’re interested in reading the posts and interviews that have made up the beginning of my Days with the Undead: Book One tour, you can mosey on over to The Sirens Call and check them out!

***

It was while watching Romero's Night of the Living Dead at the tender age of 6 that solidified Julianne’s respect of the Undead. Since that day, she has been preparing herself for the (inevitable) Zombie Apocalypse. While classically trained in all of the ways to defend herself, she took up writing in order to process the desire she now covets; to bestow a second and final death upon the Undead. As the only girl growing up in a family with four children in the Canadian countryside, Julianne needed some form of escape. Her choice was the imaginations of others which only fostered the vibrancy of her own.

Days with the Undead: Book One is her first full-length book, the basis of which can be found in her popular web serial of the same name. You can find Julianne’s The Living Dead of Penderghast Manor in the anthology Women of the Living Dead and an upcoming story in Sirens Call Publications first anthology Childhood Nightmares: Under The Bed.

Where To Get It At

Date Released - February 29th, 2012

ISBN: 1468007998

ISBN-13: 978-1468007992

Available in print and digital formats.

Purchase Links - Print:

CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/3736479

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Days-Undead-Book-Julianne-Snow/dp/1468007998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330611569&sr=8-1

Purchase Link - Digital:

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/137213

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Days-Undead-Book-One-ebook/dp/B007F14OTA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330471120&sr=8-2

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon FR: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon ES: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon IT: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B007F14OTA

The Bang Trilogy- Book Covers

2012-03-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

Tim Jones had everything planned out. He was going to tell his wife, Shelley, that he still loved her. He didn't care if she cheated on him with his best friend, Frank.
He wanted Shelley back and was ready to move on...
That was until someone shot him...
It all began with a BANG. It sounds so simple and yet could be the beginning for any movie or book. But did Tim shoot himself or did someone try to kill him? And an even bigger question is WHY? A BANG is only a small portion of what is happening in this novel. Bang carries you through suspects and crimes committed by each of the characters--some worse than others. Noir at its best! This dark story has it all. Lies, deciet, sex, and murder. You wont believe what you read and will enjoy the thrill ride to the end.

LIES, SEX, DECEPTION and MURDER all come into play in this twisted sequel to William Butler's BANG. Claire Newman is at it again as she manipulates Tim Jones and a few new faces into her web of deceit. As for Tim, he has his own problems. With a fragmented memory, he sets out to forget the past and work on his future with a new relationship. But not even Claire will let Tim forget that faithful night he was shot. With twisted lies and truths twisted Claire won't rest until she has what she's set out to do...and the results could spell DEATH for a lot of people.

The story continues from the first book. A lot is going on and if you think that BANG was just about Tim Jones then you have a lot to learn...

Book 3 in the trilogy. Smoked pics up an hour before the last book ended. Talk about double crosses!! This book will bring all three books together and give you the roller coaster ride of your life!!

Hold on to something baby, you're gonna be blown away.

BANG Vs. ONLY CHILD

2012-03-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

Where to help with this project:

Kickstarter.com

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

ONLY CHILD is the second feature-length film in the Woman's Picture Series, created by Evelyn Avenue Productions. The film features Grace Zabriskie (Big Love, Twin Peaks) and Amy LaVere, who play an estranged mother and daughter with a hidden secret between them. As mother searches for daughter, trying to retrace her steps after a sudden disappearance, the women's shared background comes into sharper focus, revealing a strange and destructive bond.

ONLY CHILD is a modern day mother/daughter noir with influences as diverse as PSYCHO, THREE WOMEN, NOW, VOYAGER, and MILDRED PIERCE. The locales are the typical haunts of noir: neglected roadside motels, sun faded diners, and homes that hide menace under a veneer of fancy decor. The characters are trapped in the past but trying to move away from it. Their identities are fluid and merge, making it harder for them to know themselves and each other.

WHY KICKSTARTER AND WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF IT?

We need to raise $20,000 to start filming in April. We’ve raised the majority of our budget, but we’re not “there” just yet. Reaching our Kickstarter goal is crucial to our success.

We’ve tried to come up with creative incentives to offer you for helping us out, things that give you something besides a short lived warm fuzzy feeling. I've looked to my collaborators at Evelyn Avenue for help, and they've been generous enough to offer you something in return. The incentives of our campaign are a diverse sampling of the talented people who intersect at Evelyn Avenue Productions.

Of course, we'll be trying to make a really good film, as well.

WHO ELSE IS SUPPORTING THIS FILM?

Recently I was awarded the 2012 Film/Video grant by Creative Capital for theWoman's Picture Series and the work at Evelyn Avenue. 46 artists were chosen for this grant, out of over three thousand applicants. Creative Capital offers support and resources to its recipients and helps move projects like Woman's Picture toward completion and success.

HOW WILL YOUR DONATION BE USED?

Your donation will go toward helping us shoot the film in April. Your help now, combined with Creative Capital’s support, will give us the last boost we need to make this film possible, completing our budget goal. Thanks for your willingness to help make the film.

WHAT IS WOMAN'S PICTURE?

A year ago, we started a series called Woman’s Picture (read a review here), a related collection of stories inspired by the women’s films of the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. The series is an homage to my childhood memories of my grandmothers and the films which remind me of them. I think of these cinematic portraits as an answer song, a way to recreate some of the stories I grew up hearing about the women in my family, their lives and the ways they were judged and viewed.

Part of what motivates me to do this series is my frustration with the way women are often depicted on screen. Hollywood and even many independent films seem to narrow down women characters in ways that contradict my own experience and the experience of most of the people I know. I want to see women characters who are as complex and inscrutable as the women I grew up around, and want to give the actresses I admire material to reflect that real life complexity on film.

The first feature film in the series (see trailer above) stars Ann Magnuson (as Miriam), Amy LaVere (pictured below as her character Loretta), and Calpernia Addams(as Ingrid). I was inspired by these actresses and wrote their parts explicitly for them. I love the women I work with and want to see them do something special on film. I try to write stories for them that provide them opportunities to do something unique, hopefully their best work, something people haven’t seen them do before maybe, something they haven’t tried to do themselves or been allowed to do.

Some of the related shorts in the Woman’s Picture series are featured on evelynavenue.com/videos/.

ONLY CHILD follows up with the character of Loretta. Along with Amy LaVere and Grace Zabriskie, ONLY CHILD features Angela Dee and Lindsey Roberts in principal roles.

WHY PERFUME?

When we started the Woman’s Picture series, I contacted my favorite perfumer, Zurich’s Andy Tauer (pictured above), about collaborating on a group of fragrances inspired by the characters in the films. Perfume was a big part of my childhood and plays a big role in the memories I have of the women in my family. Perfume is memory; like noir it merges past and present. Andy and I wanted to create scents that work with the films, enhancing the complexity of the characters even more. For this kickstarter campaign, Andy has created several exclusive items inspired by the stories of Loretta and her mother. Visit his blog.

Also, visit our blog evelynavenue.com, 'like' us on Facebook, and follow us onTwitter.

BANG Vs. THE UNDEAD

2012-03-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

JULIANNE SNOW IS COMING TO BANG NOIR!! CHECK OUT HER BOOK FOR HER BLOG TOUR. A POSSIBLE QUESTION AND ANSWER ON MARCH 20TH!! BE HERE FOR JULIANNE SNOW'S GUEST POST...

DAYS WITH THE UNDEAD - BOOK 1

Press Release - Days with the Undead: Book One by Julianne Snow

Days with the Undead: Book One Synopsis:

It’s a journal of survival.

Date Released - February 29th, 2012

ISBN: 1468007998

ISBN-13: 978-1468007992

Available in print and digital formats.

Purchase Links - Print:

CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/3736479

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Days-Undead-Book-Julianne-Snow/dp/1468007998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330611569&sr=8-1

Purchase Link - Digital:

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/137213

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Days-Undead-Book-One-ebook/dp/B007F14OTA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330471120&sr=8-2

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon FR: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon ES: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B007F14OTA

Amazon IT: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B007F14OTA

About the Author - Julianne Snow

It was while watching Romero's Night of the Living Dead at the tender age of 6 that solidified Julianne’s respect of the Undead. Since that day, she has been preparing herself for the (inevitable) Zombie Apocalypse. While classically trained in all of the ways to defend herself, she took up writing in order to process the desire she now covets; to bestow a second and final death upon the Undead.
As the only girl growing up in a family with four children in the Canadian countryside, Julianne needed some form of escape. Her choice was the imaginations of others which only fostered the vibrancy of her own. The horror and forensic/crime thriller genres top her list of favourites, but she can never turn down a good science fiction, fantasy or mystery read.
Julianne appears in the anthology Women of the Living Dead with a story entitled The Living Dead at Penderghast Manor. Look for her short stories in future anthologies. Days with the Undead: Book One is her first full-length book, the basis of which can be found in her popular web serial of the same name.

2012-02-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

This is a short video of me being destroyed. LOL I had to share it. Check it out and leave a comment. Thanks!!

Bang vs Time of The Season

2012-01-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

I think when I talk about Time of The Season some people get frightened about the content in the book. When actually it is no different from BANG. Well it is slightly different from BANG...BANG is just in a class of its own. But None-the-less, Time of The Season is its own entity. A book unlike any other out there. I did my research very carefully on this book.

Here is a little about my third novel and what I was trying to achieve with it. Time of the Season is on the lines of the noir genre. It is a Hard-boiled thriller set in modern times with noir elements. In it you have a femme fatale, a man who is self-destructive and down on his luck, and a protagonist who is flamboyant and dangerous (mafia like character). Throw boxing into the mix with a plot to steal 10 million dollars and then murder someone and you got Time of The Season.

If you read books like James M. Cain or even watched his movies like The Postman Always Rings Twice or Double Indemnity...then that's where I am going. You can also check out the movie The Set-up (1949). But it doesn't require all that work to read this novel, but all of that and more is the basic influence of the novel. Overall, the novel itself represents a relationship from beginning to end...like an abusive relationship...which is supposed to make you stronger and fight back.

A Review of My Novel The House of Balestrom

2011-12-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

ALL BOOKS REVIEWS

A BOOK REVIEW BY: PETER KLEIN

Genre: Murder mystery

Title: THE HOUSE OF BALESTROM

Author: William Butler

Warning! Reading this novel may cause anyone belonging to the 99% to have a very low opinion

of the super rich 1%. This murder mystery has all the elements of a gothic who done it: a mansion on an island and a host of characters who might be guilty of multiple crimes. but are certainly guilty of making other’s lives miserable, and reminds me a bit of an Agatha Christie story, but without a Miss Marple. To get to the quick of it, the story begins when a school teacher, Sara, and her school teacher husband, David, are asked to attend a funeral on a private island by her sister, Susan, whose husband Victor, died as a result of a boating accident or was murdered. Susan is presumed guilty of murdering her husband by most of Balestrom family and Sara begins to doubt the innocence of her sister she tries to defend as evidence mounts that her sister has lied and keep secrets from her for years. Just for starters, the recently widowed Susan never let her sister Sara know she was married until asking her to come to the funeral and this wasn’t the first time she has become a widow. Twice before she was married to rich men and twice before her husbands died under mysterious circumstances!

The plot line follows many twists and turns, woven with numerous lies and deceptions, plus the possibility of ghosts on the prowl, who might be guilty of some murders of their own! Innocence in this story proves to be a relative idea in the face of money and its power to corrupt even love. The Balestrom family does seem cursed but the curse might be no more than the result of the lies they tell to protect the family name and fortune. You be the judge.

William Butler, born in Morehead City, NC, has written several novels and short stories. He moved around a lot as a child, living in various places until his family settled back in NC, where he now lives. He runs the blog Bang Noir and writes articles for examnier.com.

Highly Recommended, especially for those who love trying to sort truth from lies and discover who is guilty of what. Reviewer: Peter Klein Allbooks Reviews.

Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Title: THE HOUSE OF BALESTROM

Author: William Butler Publisher:

CreateSpace (August 31, 2011)

ISBN: 10: 1456523457

ISBN-13: 978-1456523459

Pages:290

Price: $16.00 paperback

Price:$0.99 Kindle

Three Movies I Am Looking Forward To Seeing

2011-12-11T13:44:00.001-08:00

3 Movies I am looking forward to and be looking for reviews!!

SHAME

In New York City, Brandon's carefully cultivated private life -- which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction -- is disrupted when his sister Cissy arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.

W.E.

A two-tiered romantic drama focusing on the affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years by Lisbeth Salander (Mara), a young computer hacker.

2011-12-11T12:41:00.001-08:00

C.C.COLE: THE COLE CUT VIII: IT BEGAN WITH A "BANG": Author William Butler In my very early author/blogger days, I got discouraged from seeking out potential reviewers, and getting so...

I like this blog post from Writer-mate C.C. Cole. Check it out. She writes some great stuff.

XO

Bang vs Hudson Taylor

2011-12-02T16:59:00.001-08:00

I support Hudson Taylor in his work at teaching tolerance and open mindedness. Thank you sir for being a great guy!

Smoking Gun

2011-11-30T11:55:00.001-08:00

With the release of my third novel TIME OF THE SEASON just over the horizon. I thought I would share with you what I have going on for the new year. With a new year there are new beginnings. New challenges. I want to challenge myself in my writing. I plan on taking my writing to the next level and write entertaining...twisted stories for all of you. And what a better way to start off the new year than with the sequel to my first novel BANG, entitled SMOKING GUN.

Though Smoking Gun is in its early stages, it will be out in 2012. Along with the sequel to THE HOUSE OF BALESTROM. I have a lot going on and a lot of great surprises with what I am preparing for you. I am writing three big books for next year. They are Smoking Gun, Return to The House of Balestrom and a book that spins off from the Balestrom family called In The Garden of Crows. So I am working overtime to get these out to you. If you have not read my first two books BANG or The House of Balestrom you can find them anywhere. Paperbacks are 16.00 and ebook format on all ereaders is $0.99.

As an early present from me to you I give you Smoking Gun's cover and book trailer.

Enjoy!

THE COVER

THE TRAILER

Bang vs. Steve Balderson

2011-11-27T08:35:00.001-08:00

I would like to introduce again my second interview with Director Steve Balderson.I was looking over his resume as I pieced together this interview and I have to say I feel like I have gone on an extraordinary journey. I feel like I walked through different lives as I watched the trailers for his movies. All truly a work of art and extraordinary film making. Please welcome Steve Balderson to Bang Noir...Please check out his movies and if you haven't seen a Balderson film yet, then what are you waiting for...

Steve Balderson First Interview

Stuck! DVD Review

STEVE BALDERSON – BIO 2011

In a review of Steve’s fifth feature film THE CASSEROLE CLUB, critic MJ Simpson in England writes the film is: “Magnificent, another tour-de-force by the best kept secret in American cinema.”

THE CASSEROLE CLUB stars Susan Traylor, Daniela Sea, and former Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson in his film debut. The film premiered in New York City at Visionfest`11 in June collecting 9 Independent Vision Award nominations and winning 5: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Kevin Richardson, Best Actress for Susan Traylor, and Best Production Design.

Steve’s fourth feature was STUCK! (which starred Karen Black, Susan Traylor, Jane Wiedlin, and Mink Stole). The film premiered in October, 2009, at the Raindance Film Festival in London. It then screened as an official selection at Skeive Filmer in Norway, the Seattle LGBT Film Festival, the Southwest LGBT Film Festival, Reeling – Chicago’s LGBT Film Festival, and others. In March, STUCK! screened at the Boston Underground Film Festival where Mink Stole was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Balderson’s third feature film, WATCH OUT, was highly praised by critics as “One of the great cult films of all time.” WATCH OUT also premiered at Raindance to sold-out crowds, where it was nominated for Best International Feature.

Film Threat writes, Balderson “makes movies that are so gorgeous that it's not unreasonable to say that, cinematographically at least; he's the equal of an Argento or Kubrick in their prime. Some people have perfect vocal pitch, Steve has perfect visual composition.”

WATCH OUT was released theatrically in 2008 to sold-out audiences in the roadshow “Stop Turning Me On” world tour. It was released on DVD in October 2008, where it debuted at #24 on Amazon.com’s Top 100.

Roger Ebert gave Balderson's second film, the surrealist crime drama FIRECRACKER (starring Karen Black and Mike Patton) a special jury award on his list of 2005's Best Films. The breathtaking imagery in FIRECRACKER pushed through the limits of cinema, establishing Balderson as one of today’s finest visual storytellers.

Balderson’s other work includes the critically-acclaimed PHONE SEX (featuring Margaret Cho, Ron Jeremy, Penn Jillette and Lloyd Kaufman), PEP SQUAD (the satire that predicted American school violence), UNDERBELLY (a year in the life of dancer Princess Farhana) and the award-winning WAMEGO documentary series about DIY Filmmaking. If you are unfamiliar with Balderson's movies, you can rent or purchase them almost anywhere in the world.

Steve is also the subject of a book by author Joe Schaefer. In it, the author writes, “Having a dream and actually sitting down and hashing out how one will achieve it are two different things. Steve Balderson longed to be a filmmaker, so he made it happen. This writer/director/producer just may be the personification of the new American dream.” More information about Steve Balderson can be found on his website Dikenga.com or by searching his name on the internet.

Awards for Steve Balderson

* 2011 Visionfest - Winner Best Director Independent Vision Awards (The Casserole Club)

* 2011 Visionfest - Winner Best Picture Independent Vision Awards (The Casserole Club)

* 2011 Visionfest - Winner Production Design Independent Vision Awards (The Casserole Club)

* 2011 Visionfest - Nominee The Abe Schrager Award for Cinematography (The Casserole Club)

* 2008 Raindance Film Festival - Nominee Best International Feature (Watch Out)

* 2005 Visionfest - Winner Domani Vision Award (Firecracker)

* 2005 Visionfest - Winner Best Film (Firecracker)

* 2005 Visionfest - Winner Best Cinematography (Firecracker)

* 2005 Fantasporto - Nomination Best Film (Firecracker)

* 2004 Raindance Film Festival - Jury Prize Nomination Best Film (Firecracker)

* 2004 Fox Film Festival - Winner Best Film (Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere)

* 2004 KAN Film Festival - Winner Independent Filmmaker Award (Wamego)

* 2000 B-Movie Film Festival - Winner Killer-B Award Best Screenplay (Pep Squad)

* 2000 B-Movie Film Festival - Nomination Killer-B Best Director (Pep Squad)

* 2000 B-Movie Film Festival - Nomination Killer-B Best Picture (Pep Squad)

* 2000 B-Movie Film Festival - Nomination Killer-B Best Cinematography (Pep Squad)

* 2000 B-Movie Film Festival - Nomination Killer-B Best Editing (Pep Squad)

* 2000 B-Movie Film Festival - Nomination Killer-B Best Set Design (Pep Squad)

* 1999 Great Plains Film Festival - Best Film Nomination (Pep Squad)

* 1999 Fantasporto - Nomination Best Film (Pep Squad)

* 1998 Cannes Film Festival - World Premiere Marché du Film (Pep Squad)

THE INTERVIEW:

WB: Congrats on your shoot for you new movie Culture Shock! I hope everything went well? Can you tell me about the movie?

SB: Culture Shock is about 4 American college grads going abroad for the first time, and getting caught up in an international crime ring.

WB: This is the second film Anthony Pedone has worked on with you. Can you tell me your experience with him? How did you meet?

SB: Anthony and I met after he directed his feature The Why. I gave him advice on marketing and getting it out there. I asked him to then document the making of Casserole Club, and we got along so well, I invited him to come to London to be an assistant cinematographer on Culture Shock. He's an incredibly hard worker, and we get along really well.

WB: I also need to congratulate you on The Casserole Club! I know it showed at Raindance and that is great. Did you think The Casserole Club was going to be as big as it is?

SB: yes. Lol

WB: How did you cast for the film Culture Shock? From my understanding you filmed it in Europe. What was that like?

SB: I cast carefully, just like I do any movie. It's important to me that people all fit the mold, so that at the end of the day we can come together over a meal and enjoy being around each other. There are over 50 actors in Culture Shock, most based in Europe. So Skype was essential throughout the casting an pre-production phase.

WB: Do you have any new projects in the works?

SB: yes, there are two films on the slate and I'm keeping them top secret.

WB: What influences you as a director?

SB: art, travel, and exploring different cultures influence me the most

WB: Do you generally write all your scripts or do you pick them out?

SB: I have written my own movies as well as teamed up with screenwriter Frankie Krainz.

WB: You have (to me and I'm sure with countless others) reinvented the way of making movies. I think it is catching on. How does that make you feel?

SB: hopeful. If more people made movies the way I do, there would be a lot more happiness and less stress out in the world.

WB: Would you call yourself a visionary? Why?

SB: sure. Anyone can be a visionary if they want to be. But it's hard to think differently for a lot of people, so many never get there emotionally. It's much easier to go with the flow and do what everyone else is expecting of you.

WB: If you could change something about the movie industry what would it be?

SB: taking some tips from what happened to the music industry.

WB: Where do you see movie making going? The way studios are making them with large budgets. This is the direction if this question. If you could elaborate a general idea about big budget films compared to smaller budget films that would be great.

SB: there's always a place for gargantuan blockbusters. But when I hear that a film is postponed because they can't figure out how to make it for less than 200million dollars, I laugh out loud.

Once again I would like to thank Mr. Balderson for the interview. I can't wait for his new movie CULTURE SHOCK to come out. I will be posting a review of Casserole Club and Culture Shock so be looking for them as well. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions for Steve. I will make sure he gets them and answers them for you.

Bang vs Madonna

2011-11-14T15:21:00.001-08:00

This is such a fucking hot video!! Madonna has so much fucking energy!! You got to L-U-V Madonna...

I love this woman so fucking much!!!

The Bang Diaries #1

2011-11-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

YOU HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE

It was 2:30 am in September 2005 and I had just finished writing a few paragraphs to a story that had been haunting my brain for quite some time. I say that and you might think it sounds crazy. But being a writer these images become stories. It's a scene playing in your head like a television show or even a movie. It makes no sense at first but as soon as you grow on the scene it becomes a bigger story. I have these visions often and I can't seem to shake them sometimes. I admit that they are not usually nice visions, but never the less they are what they are. I know that I will obsess about the images until I write out what I see. It's a tragic affliction...something that has plagued me since childhood, which I am sure made me come off as a strange person. But these scenes sometimes don't even become anything more than what it is--a scene. Sometime later on it may develop into a novel, but it may come out as a short story.
I look back at my short stories and see some scenes in my novels I have out now. They meshed together and formed a larger story. I may have even wrote a line or a thought and it made its way into something bigger. Crazy how that works.
But back to September 2005. I remember how my room at the time was laid out. My room wasn't but so big. The bed was against the wall when you entered the room. Ah, the memories of that room. I use to let friends use my room as their play area. They would bring their girlfriends or boyfriends over and I would let them fuck in my bed. I didn't care. It was just a thing and hell it offered them a place to go instead of getting caught by a cop or parent. The secrets I could tell you about some of the people who have passed through my room. My computer monitor was on a crate next to the bed. I would sit on the floor with the keyboard in my lap as I pounded out scenes that came to me. I just had to get them out of my head or they would consume me. I would become extremely anxious and fidget until I wrote it out.
When I say I am writing...I'm not fucking around. I'm writing--constantly.
As I typed these few paragraphs in the cool early morning hours, I realized that the scene I was writing was disturbing. It was of a woman with two children. She was washing dishes in the kitchen. The family had just finished dinner and her thoughts would wonder to her husband, who seemed to have been acting strange that night when he came home. He barely ate his meal. He even got up from the table early only to watch television and drink beer. She knew he was doing other things as well. He was snorting coke. A habit they picked up in their early years as a couple. They use to party real hard then, but she had stopped when she became pregnant with their first child. She also had begged him to stop. And he did--for a short time.
As the scene unfolded the wife had just put the last dish away with the help of their little girl, who was the second child. She was now four while their son was five. At that moment when the last dish was being placed away a loud popping noise came from the living room. She rushes from the kitchen and screams as she sees that her husband had shot himself in the face.But he wasn't dead. No he was very much alive and making a bloody mess in the living room.
That scene ran over and over in my head for about a few weeks before I finally wrote it down. It haunted me. It made me angry and sad and worried. Why was it so strong? Hold on...it gets creepier.
After that final scene had been written my cell rang. It was a friend of mine who worked EMS.
"I need you to bring me a change of clothes." There was panic in his voice. But more like a pissed off panic--like I can't believe this is happening to me.
"Ok, is eveything okay?"
"I can't get into it, but it's just a huge mess. Also bring me a trash bag. You are going to need it for my old clothes." There was a pause as he sighed. "They have blood all over them."
With that I rushed to him with a fresh pair of clothes to the hospital. The drive at that time was surreal. Like a dream. Everything seemed to be quiet and yet animated as I drove the distance to get to the hospital. My thoughts reeling with possibilities of what happened. I also didn't want to find out that someone I knew had been hurt. For me it was hard to keep friends. They seemed to disappear or worse. Once I arrived at the hospital I didn't see my friend for quite sometime, but I saw everyone else. Most of them gathered at the gazebo and smoked. When they saw me they shook their heads and some of them couldn't help but laugh. You know it's their way to cope with the situation. When bad shit happens to you...you deal with it. Some people laugh and others let it destroy them.
"Are those for--?"
"Yea, what happened?"
"It was fucked up, that's what happened," --took the clothes and trash bag from me and carried them to --. I looked at the others who sat quietly in the gazebo smoking and shaking.
"Is someone going to tell me something? Did -- get hurt?"
"Nah...nah...nothing like that. Just this guy shot himself today and made a mess in the ambulance." I glanced over to the truck and saw one of -- fellow workers spraying it out with a water hose. Come to find out that no sooner than I wrote that grisly scene...it happened. Not exactly how I saw it but it happened. After seeing -- and checking with him if I was needed for anything else. I left. But the truth echoed in my head about that man. He shot himself. He destroyed his face. He didn't die, but he wanted to. The nurses talked about how they couldn't figure out home to intubate him. He had no cheeks anymore. Just a hole where his face use to be. The Doctor had came in and wrapped his face--hole--with lots of gauze to hold the tube in place, so they could figure out what to do next. None of them have ever dealt with this before. Of course, I want to add that I was listening in on most of the conversations about this case. They forgot I was in the room.
But anyways, I rushed home and sat down at the computer. It was now 4:00am and I knew what I wanted to say. I knew I had a beginning to something.
I gave the characters names--the wife became Shelley and the husband became Tim Jones. They met when they were young. Tim had a best friend named Frank. Frank and Shelley had started an affair. And Bang came into the light. But Bang wasn't the first title I had for Tim's story. Bang was originally called "Ugly Fucker". Nice huh?
I'm going to share with you the beginning of the new story. I don't have the original beginning of Bang with the children, but I do have the new one before the final version. I will share both.

FIRST DRAFT: BEGINNING
"At three thirty in the morning, Tim Jones took a single barrel shot gun, placed it under his chin and pulled the trigger, blowing his face off. He sat there drinking a forty and smoking his cigarettes waiting for his wife to come home so they could talk. He did a few lines of cocaine, which he snorted off a white bible that lay on the side table next to his red worn hair. It had only been a few days since he caught Shelly and Frank, his best friend, fucking in their bed. Now poor pathetic Tim sat in his old red worn chair with his face all over the ceiling. His eyes burning from the gun shot. Teeth scattered up mutilated flesh and his tongue hanging where his chin should be. He could only gasp for air, but not utter a single word. His lips and identity were gone forever. There was a scream from somewhere in the room. Tim screamed back, but his was more of a gargle and a moan. He heard frantic rustling from in the kitchen. The next thing he knew, the paramedics were rushing in through the door."

TO THIS-

SECOND DRAFT: BEGINNING

"She took her time pulling up to the house. Shelley drove around the block about five times before actually pulling into the driveway. She sat in the car as if her legs would not let her move. She did not want to face him, not now not ever. There was no way they could actually save their marriage. To her it ended a year ago and Tim just wanted to hang on. His anger drove her mad and into his best friend’s bed. The sex with Frank was new and refreshing. He gave her something she needed to get through the last year of what she called hell, hell being no exaggeration of the word.

Every day Shelley would come home to something new. The house tore up with a new hole in the wall and Tim drunk in his boxers waiting for her to come home. He would accuse her of false things and then force himself on her. For a while, she would give in and let Tim have his way, but a time came when she would not let him do what he wanted with her. That was when he started to hit her. Shelley received a fractured wrist, a black eye and bloody nose from Tim’s rages. She learned not to do certain things around him. She would come home late hoping that he was passed out from drinking, so she would not have to deal with him. There were days it worked and then days it did not.

Frank was such a sleaze, but so attractive. Frank only needed to smile at her and that was enough to make her blood warm. The day she and Frank had sex was on a Tuesday. It was sunny outside and warm. Frank came over to pick up something he left. She was not even expecting him when she answered the door. He smiled at her with his white teeth. Shelley smiled back looking down as if she was shy.

“Well are you going to invite me in,” he asked. His blue eyes looking her over like he always did. Shelley moved out of the way so Frank could walk into the house. He was wearing a black wife beater and worker jeans and tan boots for the construction site he worked at. She looked at his strong arms and ass as he walked by. She felt something stir inside her chest.

“Why are you here,” she asked.

Frank turned to her smiling.

“I came to see you,” he said and she felt as though she could pass out from this. What was it that he did to her? Frank laughed at her expression because she looked scared. Shelley blushed and moved toward the kitchen.

“Did you want something to drink it’s hot outside,” she said, stopping at the table to pour him a glass of water.

Frank walked up to her, stopping close to her. Shelley could feel the heat off his body, which made her sweat a little. His smell was intoxicating. His eyes focused on her as he reached around her for his work gloves that he left on the table. His hand moved around her caressing her thigh and then her belly. Her back was to him. She could feel him press up against her. She took his hands into hers pulling them up to her mouth to kiss them. He pressed himself hard against her, one hand moving to her breast the other between her legs.

“Do you feel something you like,” he said. She bent backwards to kiss his mouth. She felt his scruffy face against hers and his tongue in her mouth. She heard the jingle of his belt being undone as he opened his pants. He did everything and everything was heated. Frank pulled up her dress, placing himself inside her. They were like animals as he had sex with her against the table. They kissed, bit and pawed at each other. Shelley reached out to grab his ass to push him deeper into her. For the first time Shelley actually had an orgasm, which made her shake and cry after they finished. He held her for a while and then pulled out. Frank got himself together grabbing his gloves. He started for the door. Shelley turned around to look at him as he smiled at her, nodded, and closed the door.

That was the first time they ever did anything. She could not get enough. Four months later, Tim decided to come home early from work only to find Frank and her together in the bedroom climaxing. Tim just stood there looking at Frank on top of his wife. Tim’s body was frozen from disbelief, as Frank finished and then pulled out to get up. Frank stood naked in front of Tim as he lit a cigarette. He put on his boxers and pants. Shelley was curled up in the sheets afraid of what was going to happen. It was almost humiliating to be found out, yet liberating at the same time. However, this was not how she wanted to end things with Tim. Shelley watched as Frank just got up grabbed his shirt and walk past Tim, without Tim doing a thing. She could even see the smirk Frank gave Tim as he walked past him. Tim looked angry now, yet did nothing. Shelley took advantage of the situation. She got dressed, grabbing a few things. Tim walked over to the bed sitting on the edge placing his face in his hands.

“Where are you going,” he said in an eerie calm voice. Shelley walked to the door of the room looking back at him from the corner of her eye.

“I’m going to stay at a motel. I will call you,” she said, walking out grabbing her keys. Before Shelley’s hand touched the front door to leave, a loud crashing sound came from the bedroom. She opened the door fast, running out to her car. Shelley drove off as Tim walked out of the house with his shotgun. The last thing she heard as she sped away was the loud bang the gun made as he shot it up in the sky or at her for all she knew.

Now a month later Tim is trying to get her back. She could not stand living in the motel any longer. She was ready to return home, but not with Tim living there. She actually enjoyed her freedom. Though she wished, Frank was with her. He never came back after that. She would leave him messages on his cell but he would never return her call. Therefore, Shelley decided that she would come to the house and listen to what Tim had to say.

Still sitting in the car Shelley looked down at her feet. She tried to make them move so she could get this done with. Now even her hand would not move to the door handle. She lowered the window lighting a cigarette. She stared out the driver’s side window away from the house. She just looked at the neighbor’s yard. Her hand shook a little from being nervous. Her face looked worried, and then as if the past came, back to haunt her there was a loud bang that came from inside the house.

Startled, Shelley froze for a moment and then quickly got out of the car. She went to the front door unlocking it. She started to cry, but she held back as hard as she could, because of the thought of what was going to be on the other side of the door was overbearing. She pushed on the door but it stopped because it was on the chain. She paused for a moment trying to look into the room. All she saw were Tim’s legs on the floor."

And so BANG was born out of blood and tragedy. But it was only the beginning. Sometimes when writing a story it may not always have a positive beginning, but you have to start somewhere...even if it means to try and kill off your main character.

***Thank you for reading the Beginning of BANG. More BANG DIARIES to come. While I sit and write the sequel to BANG I will be sharing a few stories about the background of this novel and how it has evolved into the book it is today. How it will change how you see things and experience reading. BANG is a #noir #suspense novel. The plot is twisted and disturbing. It is ultimately about relationships--husband/wife, sibling, mother/child, lovers. It is also about morals. Can you find the moral values of the characters in BANG? Look deep--their morals seep through briefly. But then again in today's society morals are played out by our own views--not by the maker of the moral. Anyways thank you and please leave any comment or question. I would love to answer them.

XOXO

Bang Noir: Eurythmics - I Need A Man

2011-11-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't help myself with this video. I love Annie Lennox. She's such an innovator in music and life. Get it Gurl!!

she looks like a drag queen. I love her!

My love and heart goes out to this amazing star!! XOXO Bitch.

Children of Discord: Second Book of The Gastar Series By C.C. Cole A Book Review By William Butler

2011-10-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

BIO:

I'm C.C.Cole, award-winning medieval dark fantasy author of the Gastar Series. The series of four novellas, when completed, follow teen assassin Shevata as she journeys through the history of her home city of Gastar to seek redemption for her past actions and to re-gain her soul.

The first novella, "Act of Redemption" was published in 2009. Shevata makes a mistake by killing a group of evil priests without a death order. Two centuries later, she is released from imprisonment, realizing her soul was removed. Along with a trio of soldiers from the past, they defend the remnants of Shepeople remaining in the fallen city of Gastar from the evil demon lord Zermon.

The second novella, "Children of Discord" was published in 2011. Shevata searches for the evil treacherous boy Goldeon, who assisted the enemy in the fall of Gastar. She is summoned back to Gastar by a group of unlikely allies. The growing city has forgotten much of the city's dark history, and the clash of the two dangerous children place the unknowing people of the city in danger. Shevata takes her first steps to re-claim her humanity at the book's dramatic end.

The lead character Shevata won an action heroine poll on Goodreads, "Act of Redemption" has been listed as #1 on Goodreads' Best Independent Novel, and "Children of Discord" won an NABE pinnacle award for fiction in 2011.

Mississippi is my home, I live a suburban life with my family. Schooled in the medical field, along with writing, other interests include martial arts, adopted greyhounds, medieval and 20th century history.

CHILDREN OF DISCORD AMAZON PAPERBACK

CHILDREN OF DISCORD AMAZON KINDLE

THE REVIEW:

C.C. Cole does it again in this huge sequel to Act of Redemption. She has given us a story about good and evil. Death and rebirth. Right and wrong. Revenge. With a battle of wits by two ancient children. C.C. Cole pulls you into Shevata's world, her past, all the way up to the events that happened in the first book. All the while she tells the story of Goldeon's past with Shevata. All this and more until you reach the last page. A book I was unable to put down and kept thinking about if I did. The ending, which I will not spoil was amazing! A cliffhanger at that.

THE STORY:

Shevata is back! And this time she's taking on the boy Goldeon. Beware her wrath! Goldeon, named after the color of his hair, had taken over a new form of demon--the vampire. He takes over the vampires in order to perform raids on the Great City of Gastar. A new city, which has risen up from the ashes of Zermon's Hell. As you might recall in the first book Zermon was trying to create Hell on Earth, but Shevata prevented that from happening.
In Children of Discord, the vampires, out of desperation, summon Shevata from Hell. They need her help to fight against Goldeon, but it only seems to have caused them more harm. Shevata doesn't really care about blood-drinkers. And after a intense fight scene as Shevata manifests into the material world, she spares one vampire, Simon. She spares him to help her in the fight against the boy Goldeon.
Armed with a double sword attached at the hilt (Two swords are better than one and she definitely knows how to handle the sword with slashing ease). What I liked most about this book was the use of a Cloak and Dagger approach to the story. Shevata maneuvers her way around Gastar with invisible ease. She manipulates the players to reach an end to the means...I might add not for selfish reasons, but to help out the future of Gastar. Though she also wants to catch Goldeon, who seemed to have rooted himself into the royal family of Gastar through Changeling means.

RATING:

I recommend this book to anyone who loves dark fantasy novels. I give it five stars!! But with any sequel you have to read the first one before the second book and the second book before the third one! The third book to Gastar I hope will be out soon. I'm biting my nails and tapping my foot while I wait.

CHILDREN OF DISCORD AMAZON KINDLE

CHILDREN OF DISCORD AMAZON PAPERBACK

Bang Bang

2011-10-19T18:38:00.001-07:00